10 Best Laptops under $500 – 2017

Many of our readers are getting confused with our guide of gaming laptops under $500, but we believe that’s our fault since we didn’t create this guide earlier. Anyways, so here’s our guide to find the best laptops under $500 that can be used by college students, businessmen, professionals, and writers. Gamers can also use these kinds of machines, but we recommend our gaming laptops guide for them. With these devices, we are focused on lightweight design as well as power, and you might also see a couple of Ultrabooks on this list. To be honest, here, you won’t get a top-notch laptop for $500, but I am sure you know that already and are looking for a decent reliable laptop that’ll be able to do your daily activities like social networking, word processing, multi-tasking, browsing, etc. One thing we can tell for sure is that, once you’re done reading this article, you’ll know what laptop under $500 is best for you.

What to look for in best laptop under $500?

There are many things that you should expect from a laptop under $500 including stylish looks, latest features, decent specifications, good battery life and a full HD display. There are thousands of laptops available on the market from best laptop brands and whatever you choose from the list below, it will surely last for at least two years or more depends on how smooth you’re using it. All these machines are good value for money and come with specifications that are good enough to handle latest applications, mediocre games, and multitasking. You should also look for a large touchpad and backlit keyboard which is entirely possible to find in such a budget notebook. If this is your first time buying a laptop, we recommend you read a laptop buying guide by LaptopMag, and it will make you understand everything about the purchase of a new laptop under $500.

Our Top Picks for Best Laptop under $500 in 2017

1. Dell Inspiron i5558-2859BLK

The Dell Inspiron i5558-2859BLK is a good looking 15-inch laptop that comes with a touchscreen display and stylish black glossy chassis. It’s our highly recommended laptop under $500 that can be used for all kinds of purposes including basic browsing, word processing, watching movies and casual gaming. It features reliable connectivity options like 2x USB 2.0 ports, 1X USB 3.0 port, HDMI port and a 3-in-1 media card reader. When it comes to performance, it clearly stands out of the crowd thanks to its Intel Dual Core i3-5015U processor and 8 GB DDR3L SDRAM. It comes with an HD Webcam which is extremely clear and crisp even in dark rooms. It includes a 1 TB HDD that’s more than enough for storing all your files. Overall, it’s the best all-rounder laptop for $500 and can be used by just about anyone. Anyways, while looking at the best laptops under $500, you might find some better performing notebooks, but you’ll see nothing such as this that has everything including DVD drive.

Intel Dual Core i3-5015U 2.1 GHz Processor

8 GB DDR3L SDRAM

1 TB HDD Storage

2. Acer Aspire E5-573G

The Acer Aspire E5-573G is a 15-inch gaming laptop that will cost you around $500, and it isn’t exactly thick so even ordinary users can utilize it. It’s undoubtedly among the powerful laptops, and it’s hard to find a laptop with such components for this price. It features Intel Core i5-5200U processor, Windows 10, 1 TB 5400 rpm HDD and 8 GB DDR3L SDRAM. Since it’s a gaming notebook, it includes a GPU by NVIDIA specifically named as GeForce 940M. In case you’re a serious gamer, you might be interested in its 17-inch model which will cost you extra $100, but it’s totally worth it. So if you’re looking for an affordable machine to play games, then you won’t find anything that comes even close to this. We also recommend it to business users since it packs enough power to run all kinds programs and even multi-tasking. It includes a 4-cell Li-ion battery which should easily last for around 5 hours. Overall, it doesn’t miss out any feature, and it’s powerful enough to handle almost all tasks, and that’s the reason we have listed it on the second rank in our guide of best laptops under $500 of 2017.

Intel Core i5-5200U Processor

8 GB DDR3L SDRAM

1 TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive

NVIDIA GeForce 940M with 2GB VRAM

3. HP Notebook 15-ay011nr

At the price of under $450, the HP 15-ay011nr is certainly among the best laptops on the market. Third, on our list, it’s a beast when it comes to performance, and it also comes with a Full HD 15-inch SVA display with 1920 by 1080 pixels. It weighs almost 5 pounds and comes with a battery that can easily last for approximately 8 hours. It might not be all slim and portable, but it’s a good looking PC for anyone who is looking for a high-end budget laptop. Its hardware includes Intel Core i5-6200U processor coupled with 8 GB of Memory and 1 TB of HDD. However, we recommend getting an extra SSD and install your Windows in it for quick booting and best performance possible. Its display surely makes it an excellent machine for watching movies as well as gaming. Its full-size keyboard delivers the best typing experience while its touchpad might feel a little bit of odd. All in all, it manages to offer the best bang for your buck and great performance even while multitasking and playing games.

Intel Core i5-6200U Processor

8GB DDR3L-SDRAM Memory

1TB 5400RPM Hard Drive

4. Dell Inspiron 15 i5558-5718SLV

Here comes another one of the powerful Dell laptops in our guide of best laptops under $500. It’s highly recommended to people on a low budget since it’ll cost you a lot less than $500. Its silver and black color combination give it a premium look, and it’s also slim enough to look stylish. This particular model is a signature edition and comes with a 15-inch TrueLife touchscreen display as well as a backlit keyboard. It’s a good option for writers and coders that prefer working in darker rooms. For such price, you’re getting a PC with Intel Core i5-4210U processor, 8 GB of DDR3L RAM, 1TB of HDD and Intel HD 4400 graphics. It also comes with an HD webcam which can be ideal for video calling and Skyping with friends and family. One can enjoy movies and videos without any earphones thanks to its amazing audio quality with Waves MaxxAudio. Dell recently launched its newer model known as Dell Inspiron i5578-2451GRY, but it will cost you more than $500. The only drawback we found in this machine was its average battery life which can be neglected as it has many other advantages for such a low price.

Intel Core i5-4210u

Backlit keyboard

1TB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive

8GB DDR3L 1600 MHz Memory

Intel HD Graphics 4400

5. HP ProBook

The HP ProBook might not be the most attractive laptop or something you have ever heard, but it’s surely worth listing in our guide of best laptops. Lately, HP has launched many budget laptops that have mind-blowing specifications, and this one is surely among them. It features a whopping 16 GB of RAM and AMD A10-8700P Quad Core processor which is seriously powerful. I know we mostly recommend going with Intel’s specifications, but if you’re getting something like this for such low price, then it’s a great deal. It also features a 1 TB of SATA HDD as well as 720p HD webcam along with 6 hours of battery backup. On top of all that, its premium design is simply a bonus with brushed aluminum body. It includes all the usual ports such as 2x USB 3.0, 2x USB 2.0, card reader, SuperMulti DVD drive, HDMI and VGA port. Other than its sturdy body, its aluminum is designed to keep cooling the machine, and either of you will hardly feel any heat. It’s a portable device with amazing battery life and excellent display.

AMD A10-8700P Quad-core Processor

AMD Radeon R6 Integrated card

16 GB DDR3 1600MHz Memory

1 TB 5400 RPM SATA Hard Drive

6. Lenovo ThinkPad E560 Laptop

The Lenovo ThinkPad E560 Laptop is yet another one of the powerful options available under $500. If you’re in the market for best Windows 7 laptop, then you won’t see a better option than this. It’s a full value for money machine and comes with Intel Core i5-6200U processor as well as 4 GB of RAM. Its display that comes with 1366 x 768 pixels and 500 GB HDD feels outdated, and Lenovo could have done a better job with it. It features Intel HD 520 graphics that will be able to handle the average titles and other than Windows 7 it also comes with a Windows 10 license key. You can install both of them, but we usually recommend going with Windows 10 since it will be able to handle all your latest programs smoothly. When it comes to technical support, Lenovo is surely our favorite brand, and more importantly, it comes with one full year of warranty. For a PC with such components, it comes with a long lasting battery life and also a fingerprint reader.

Intel Core i5 6200U

500GB 7200 rpm Hard Drive

4GB of 1600 MHz DDR3L RAM

Integrated Intel HD Graphics 520

7. HP 17z-p100

The HP 17z-p100 is another great laptop from HP, and it’s the only 17-inch laptop in this list. It offers excellent performance thanks to its AMD Quad-Core A8-7050 processor and 6 GB DDR3L RAM. Its 750 GB HDD is pretty average considering its price and other components. It also comes with AMD Radeon R5 graphics which will be able to handle games like Sims 4 and World of Warcraft. Unlike other budget laptops, multi-tasking is just a piece of cake on this machine, and we tested it for more than two weeks. We mostly recommend it to everyday primary users, and of course, you can watch Netflix and YouTube videos all day long with it. It sports a 17-inch BrightView HD display with a resolution of 1600 by 900 pixels. Its speakers are very loud thanks to DTS Sound system that is packed within. Its other features include Windows 10, SuperMulti DVD burner, VGA Webcam and USB 3.0 port. Running over 4 hours on its backup, it’s a lot considering its 17-inch display and an AMD processor.

AMD Quad-Core A8-7050 Processor

AMD Radeon R5 Graphics

6GB DDR3L Memory

750GB 5400 rpm Hard Drive

8. Toshiba Satellite C55Dt-C5245

Toshiba might not be one of the most trusted laptop brands but speaking from personal experience, they do deliver laptops that are not only stable but also well performing. It comes with a 15-inch touchscreen display, and for this price point, I’d say it’s not a bad choice. Under the hood, it’s powered by AMD A8-7410 processor, 1 TB HDD, AMD Radeon R5 graphics and 6 GB DDR3L SDRAM. It features a basic design that weighs around 5 pounds and with its full-size keyboard, it’s one of the most professional looking laptops. After reading plenty of customer reviews and expert advice, we do not recommend it to college students as it isn’t something that’s appreciated by students of this generation. It’s reasonably priced considering its touch display and other components, but its touchpad has some issues that you won’t be happy about. Anyways, we suggest it to users that are on an extremely low budget and still want a laptop with a touchscreen as well as Windows 10.

AMD A8-7410 2.2 GHz

6 GB DDR3L SDRAM

1 TB 5400 rpm Hard Drive

AMD Radeon R5

9. ASUS ZenBook Flip UX360CA-UBM1T

The ASUS ZenBook Flip is a 13-inch touchscreen laptop that comes with very latest specifications and that too for under $500. I know there’s the latest model available of this laptop, but it will cost you over $700. Tasks like video editing, graphics designing and animating can be done smoothly on it without any heating issues. It comes with a chiclet keyboard, and as its name suggests, it can be flipped entirely for your convenience. It’s also one of the best portable laptops of 2017 that’s extremely slim and weighs less than 3 pounds. The reason behind its power and performance is its 6th generation Intel Core M3-6Y30 processor, 256 GB SSD and 8 GB DDR3 RAM. It comes with a super-long battery life and a Full HD IPS display. So if you’re not looking for a bulky and large laptop then now you know what’s best for you. Overall, it’s the best convertible laptop under $500 and comes with great design and Microsoft Cortana feature.

6th generation Intel Core M3-6Y30 Processor

256GB Solid State Drive

8GB DDR3 RAM

10. Dell Inspiron 15 5000 i5547-7450sLV

The Dell Inspiron 15 is a reasonable laptop that has both, great specifications as well as stylish design. It sports a 15-inch LED backlit display with Dell’s latest feature known as TrueLife. It comes with the latest 6th generation Intel Core i5-6200U processor and Intel HD 520 graphics. There are also two more variants available for this model, and you can also go with Intel Core i7 processor if your budget is little over $600. Its other configuration includes 8 GB DDR3L RAM, 1 TB HDD, backlit keyboard, Intel RealSense 3D webcam and it comes with a free sleeve. Its RAM can be extended up to 16 GB, and we also suggest that you install an SSD for better performance. It has been designed ergonomically and is slimmer than an inch. Overall, it offers excellent specifications for an exact price of $500 as well as surprisingly good battery life.

Intel Core i5-6200U

8GB DDR3L RAM

1TB HDD

Intel HD Graphics 520

When it comes to budget laptops, $500 is the perfect budget to find a suitable laptop for all your needs including casual gaming. These listed above notebooks can perform all your light as well as heavy tasks with ease. Also if you have some extra cash or if you could save some then we also recommend that you check our guide of best laptops under $600. So I guess this is it, let us know if you have any doubts regarding this topic through the comments section.

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